Shuffle on Down
by Icicle Streams
Summary: A collection of oneshots inspired by songs on my brother's ipod on shuffle,  hence the title. I may add some more next time I feel like some shuffle  but for now, I'll say it's complete. Please R&R, constructive crit. is welcome. RikkuxGippal
1. Bump it

_**BUMP IT - ERYKAH BADU**_

_You know I love it when they play my beat real loud  
Because it moves the band and then it moves the crowd

* * *

_

Rikku sat alone in a reclusive corner, while the rest of the party was wild. She swilled the tropical punch in her glass, then downed the whole lot.

"What's up, Cid's girl? Aren't you enjoying the party?"

Gippal grinned down at her. She didn't return the smile and his face fell.

"What's wrong?"

She sighed. She didn't know either.

"I don't know. I just feel… unsettled. I feel lifeless."

He frowned, and kneeled down so that they were eye level.

"You, lifeless? Rikku, you're the most vibrant person I know."

She smiled sadly at him.

"That's nice of you to say, Gippal."

He reached out, as if to grab her shoulder reassuringly, but he hesitated and pulled away. He'd never seen her so forlorn, not since her _sudran _died.

"Rikku…"

She took his hand in hers and smiled brightly. It made him feel worse, it was so false.

"Don't worry, Gippal, I feel like this every now and then. I'll be better soon. Maybe a few days. Go enjoy the party."

He didn't want to let go of her hand, but if he held it any longer, she might suspect how he felt about her. She'd always be someone special to him, the one girl he truly loved. He felt awful, not being able to make her smile, make her smile for real.

"Thankyou everyone, for coming out today. But it's not fair that I get all the attention," said Yuna. She stood in front of the band, holding a microphone.

Paine smirked next to her. "Damn straight."

The crowd laughed and a few people raised their glasses.

"Paine helped us unite Spira, and so did my cousin."

Brother swelled importantly behind her, holding a red electric guitar.

"So come up her, Rikku."

Gippal couldn't help smiling at how Brother sighed and shook his head. He turned to Rikku behind him, whose eyes had lit up.

Yuna smiled. "This is your song, Rikku."

She grinned, a genuine grin, and hopped up to join her cousin on stage.

"Paine has to sing too!" cried Rikku, grabbing the silver-haired warrior before she could escape.

"I hate you, Rikku," said Paine, but she was smiling.

Gippal was mesmerised as he watched the trio sing together, and Rikku seemed alive again. The drums echoed loudly with the rest of the band in a strong crescendo. The crowd screamed and cheered. Rikku's eyes were bright with joy as her hips swung hypnotically with the music. She caught his eye and winked.

She was alive again and that was enough to make Gippal smile.


	2. To each his own

_**To Each His Own-Ini feat. Large Professor, Q-Tip **_

_To each his own_

_To each his own_

_To each his own_

_To each his own_

_To each his own_

_To each his own_

_To each his own_

_To each his own

* * *

_

Nooj would always brag about how bold and daring his conquests were. Most of them were; Gippal wouldn't go near Leblance with a fifty-foot stick. In fact, he couldn't think of anyone who would, and Baralai always agreed.

Of course, Gippal didn't really envy Baralai too much. Courting someone like Paine would end up with a lot of… pain.

When he first met Tidus, he knew straight away that no matter how different he and Yuna were, they'd always be together. Gippal wouldn't have pegged Tidus for liking the sweet, helpful, young lady/priestess, but he wasn't one to judge.

Brother… Gippal didn't even know what happened there. He must have had normal tastes to begin with; after all, he had liked one of Gippal's first girlfriends. But something happened along the way. Something Gippal didn't really want to think about…

Gippal and Buddy had the most in common out of all of them, well, that's what Gippal supposed was true. They knew how to get the girls; Buddy on one hand, was smooth and charming and would soon have the girl in his grasps. Gippal, on the other hand was the daring one, armed with a gun and some good pick-up lines. But though they were both what you'd call 'ladies' men', they were totally different. Buddy liked his girls perfect; straight golden hair, fair skin and beautiful swirly eyes. Only the finest Al Bhed women would do for him. But Buddy was no where near as picky as Gippal was. He only liked short, perky, kind-hearted, brave Al Bhed girls called Rikku. Well, to each his own…

* * *

**_Actually, this is my personal favourite. This was once of the ones I wrote a while again, and then only recently re-read, and I couldn't help smiling :)_**


	3. Low

_**Low- Foo Fighters**_

_Baby blue  
Don't go nowhere  
I'm right beside you  
Ooh ooh

* * *

_

Gippal downed his glass with one swallow, but he barely tasted the fiery cocktail. His attention was completely on the Al Bhed girl dancing in the middle of the dance floor. The hem of short black skirt spun with each turn she made, brushing lightly against the smooth skin of her thigh. Her hair, blonde and wild with long braids amidst the long golden tangles trailed down her bare back. The dark velvet halter neck ended with silver detailing that just touched the top of her skirt accentuated her curves. She swung her hips round and round, seemingly unaware of the hypnotic effect it had on him.

He gestured for the bartender to refill his glass as he glared at her and all the men dancing near; he wasn't the only one who was staring. He felt so bad, looking at her like that, and when he saw the hungry look in those men's eyes he wanted so badly to break their faces. Didn't she realise that when you went into a nightclub dressed like that and dancing like that, it attracted the attention of the wrong sort?

At one point he was tempted to get out there and dance with her, to get close to her. But then just like that, she disappeared into the crowd and out of sight, leaving him to sit, brooding and trying to get the memory of her out of his head, and failing.


	4. Where is the Love?

_**Where is the Love?- Black Eyed Peas**_

_It just ain't the same, always unchanged  
New days are strange, is the world insane?  
If love and peace is so strong  
Why are there pieces of love that don't belong?

* * *

_

When he had first kissed her, she thought she had found that little bit of hope and love, the most you could find when the threat of Sin was always on the horizon. It was so perfect; she was his, he was hers, and she knew she'd never know loneliness again. And when they had separated, she to be a Guardian, he to be a Crusader, she knew that if they survived, he'd be waiting there for her.

And then they defeated Sin. There was peace, a freedom from fear that Spira had never known. That freedom... it meant they could be together, together without worrying each day that it might be the last time the other came home. But when they defeated Sin, Spira changed forever. People were waiting longer to get married; some people didn't even get married. Everyone had cast off the restrictive teachings of Yevon, even some of the good ones. And when she finally found him again, years after she had last seen him, her heart shrivelled inside. It wasn't the same; she wasn't the same, he wasn't the same. She... she was older, with a different view of the world. He... he was tainted by the touch of some other girl, some other girl that didn't belong in his arms like _she _did. And with bitter tears she realised that with the defeat of Sin, she had lost the one thing that had mattered in the world.


	5. Inbetween Days

_**Inbetween Days- The Cure**_

_Yesterday I got so scared  
I shivered like a child  
Yesterday away from you  
It froze me deep inside  
Come back come back  
Don't walk away

* * *

_

She didn't know why she had said it. She couldn't even remember why they were arguing... it didn't matter anymore.

"Go on! Go on! Just walk away! Your choice is made! Go on and disappear!" she had screamed at him, tears pouring down her cheeks.

He'd denied it, of course... but then she didn't even know if it was true, she didn't even know if he was lying.

Instead of storming out that door like she'd urged him to, he'd stepped towards her, arms outstretched.

But she had slapped his arms away and turned away.

And she told him she didn't love him.

He had just shaken his head in disbelief, trying to tell her she didn't mean it, she was just hysterical.

Now she knew it was wrong, that she shouldn't have said it was true.

But she had.

He stood there for a moment, and then he was gone.

That whole day, that whole night she just sat in the kitchen, slumped on the floor, trembling with tears. Frozen with fear that he would never come back. But he was gone... and it was all her fault.


	6. Message in a Bottle

_**Message in a Bottle- John Mayer**_  
_A year has passed since I wrote my note  
But I should have known it right from the start  
Only hope can keep us together  
Love can mend your life but love can break your heart

* * *

_

He sat high in the tree, hidden from view amongst the thick foliage. He'd been sitting there all day, waiting for nightfall so that he could travel under the cover of darkness to Luca, where he could take a ferry. Alone up there, waiting for the sun set, he had a chance to think. But he didn't want to; he didn't want to remember the slaughter he'd witnessed in that cave. The pain, both physical and emotional, he had suffered at the hands of his 'friend.' What had possessed that man that he would shoot his closest comrades?

No.

He didn't want to think about that. Not right now.

Gippal turned his thoughts to the future. Where would he go now? Paine and Baralai, all three of them had decided to split up. They were still being hunted, having been the only survivors of that training exercise that had gone so horribly wrong...

Gippal shook his head. He had let his thoughts trail back to the topic he so wanted to avoid.

Home. He'd go Home. He would be safe there. And there... that was where _she_ would be. Where she should be, anyway.

He hadn't heard from her for a year, hadn't seen her in so long. He'd sent her a message once. But he knew from the beginning that it would never reach her. He prayed that she was safe; that's why he had enlisted in the first place.

As the sun sank below the horizon, he jumped down from the tree and set off on foot. The only thing spurring him was the hope of seeing her; that was all he was surviving on. But as he made his way down the empty Highroad, the thought that she was dead weighed heavily on his heart...


	7. Roundabout

_**Roundabout- Yes**_  
_In and around the lake  
Mountains come out of the sky they_

_Stand there  
Twenty four before my love and I'll be  
There...

* * *

_

It was how they'd meet up. He'd leave a pebble, smooth and white with a tiny number scratched onto it, if they were going to the Oasis where he'd find those pale stones. Or a rusty old bolt if she was meant to join him on the rooftop of Home. And every now and then, she'd find a tiny feather of yellow Chocobo down, telling her to meet him at the rocky sand dune, that mini mountain that stood up off the horizon just behind Home, where the Chocobos would sometimes build their nests. He'd leave these little treasures for her, telling her to come out in 24 hours of the number he left with them.

And every time she'd come out, twenty-four hours after the calling card was left, and he'd be there, already waiting. Every time, without fail.

Then one time he left a seashell.

He'd never left one before. But she knew it was him.

He had left it at five in the morning, so at half-past four, she had crept out of bed and out the door.

Once outside of Home, she ran across the sand dunes, seeing only by the light of the moon.

She'd never received a seashell from him before, but she knew where he'd found it. West of Home was an ancient, dried up salt-bed where an inland sea had once been home to marine life millennia ago.

"Gippal?"

He turned, his face heavy and forlorn. And then he told her, about how he was leaving. He offered her his handkerchief, but she didn't need it; her eyes were dry. She almost laughed at the irony that she had to tell him the same; she was leaving too.

But when he pressed the white pebble with the date five years from now engraved on it, the tears flowed freely.


End file.
